After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Mark 3:5 NET
Mark clearly puts on record that Jesus was angry on this occasion. He was not just grieved at the conduct of the Pharisees and their stubborn refusal to show compassion instead of following a set of burdensome rules. He had good reason to be angry - their attitude was deplorable. They could not appreciate that the Sabbath day was not intended as a day when there would be a whole set of meaningless restrictions applied. They were proud that they kept the Sabbath day so meticulously and they wanted everyone to know this. They imposed a whole set of burdens on other people. They condemned the Son of God for healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day. It was OK for them to attend the synagogue on the Sabbath day and it was acceptable for them to engage in hypocritical criticism and condemnation on the Sabbath day. But according to them, the Saviour was breaking the law of Moses by doing good on the Sabbath day. So Jesus is angry at their conduct.
This shows that Jesus was human and that he displayed a whole set of emotions such as we experience daily - weariness, hunger, joy, sadness, loneliness, etc. etc. But of course, we regard anger as a sin. I have to admit that there have been occasions when I became angry and it was sinful on my part. Paul writing to the Colossians provides a list of things that Christians should put away from them because they belong to the old sinful nature - "anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth." This is something that every believer in Christ is aware of and we have to take action to put off anger which is the first sin on the list. However, Paul also refers to being angry but not sinning in the letter to the Ephesians.
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. [Ephesians 4: 26-27 ESV]
We need to remember that Jesus was the sinless Son of God. He was justified in being angry with the Pharisees and he was grieved at the same time. He experience personal sadness at their conduct. We should be very careful before justifying being angry on our part. Even though we may have a good reason for being angry, it is so easy to allow this to degenerate into sin. Here is a quotation from a Bible Commentator and writer on the subject of human anger.
We may rest assured that there is no human feeling which needs so much cautious guarding as this. A sinless wrath is a very rare thing. The wrath of man is seldom for the glory of God. In every case a righteous indignation should be mingled with grief and sorrow for those who cause it, even as it was in the case of our Lord. And this, at all events, we may be sure of: it is better never to be angry than to be angry and sin.
Ryle, J. C.. Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark: A Commentary [Updated] (pp. 31-32). Aneko Press. Kindle Edition.
Photo by Tom Ramalho on Unsplash. Tom describes himself as a Christian Filmmaker from Brazil.]
Righteous anger is OK, such as anger at poverty and injustice and violence in world, to be angry at the same things Christ is angry about.